Chapter 15 #2
“The bond with my father . . . I don’t know the limitations of it. I don’t know if —” Kaden broke off, looking disgusted.
“If what?”
He shook his head with a growl of frustration, shoving his fist into the mattress. Then he laughed — a cold, mirthless sound that raised the hairs along the back of my neck.
“You can tell me, Kaden,” I said in a low voice. “You don’t need to protect me from the truth. I can handle it.”
Kaden swallowed, and when he met my gaze, his eyes were filled with a raw terror. “I didn’t tell you before because I knew you’d act this way. Knew you’d stand by my side, even when my mind and soul are wide open to the fucking demon king.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” My throat burned with emotion, my face so hot I thought it might combust. My heart was a frantic drumbeat in my chest, and there was no point in trying to hide how I felt. We could both hear how fast it was beating.
“No, of course not.” He looked away and dragged a hand through his hair. “But you can’t trust me, Lyra. Even if I feel like myself and sound like myself, I — am not — me. With that fucking sire bond, I have no idea what he could compel me to do.”
Kaden threw out a dismissive hand. “He could force me to sit here and tell you all the right things — make you believe that you are safe. He could make me hold you, love you, and then put a dagger through your heart. Compel me to strangle you in your sleep.”
When he met my gaze, his eyes blazed with such intensity that I almost had to look away. “Ever since he took me prisoner, I have thought of nothing else except getting back to you. The only thing that kept me going in that place was remembering how you feel in my arms. How sweet you taste.”
Kaden reached up to cup my chin, his thumb brushing over my bottom lip. “But you cannot trust me, Lyra. Not as long as my father draws breath.”
My mouth tingled where he touched me, though tears burned in my eyes. My heart ached for him, and yet the stupid organ was so full of hope and love that it was all I could do not to throw my arms around his neck and bury my face in his chest.
Kaden was still Kaden.
It didn’t matter how hard he tried to keep his distance; I wouldn’t let his father drive a wedge between us. I would remain at my mate’s side, find a way to end his father, and free him from that horrible bond.
“I understand,” I murmured, my eyes fluttering closed as my hand came up to wrap around his. “I know you want to protect me. That you’re afraid of what your father might make you do.”
Opening my eyes, I leaned forward and pressed my hand to his bare chest so I could feel his thundering heart. “But you forgot one thing.”
A small crease appeared between Kaden’s brows as he stared down at me. I wasn’t sure he was breathing.
“You forgot you were mated to a huntress,” I said, leaning in close enough that my lips brushed the shell of his ear.
Kaden’s breath escaped him in a rush, and I grinned at the shudder of pleasure that shook his powerful body.
“And if you try to hurt me, I will not hesitate to bury my blade in your heart. I will turn you into smoke and mist, and then I will come for your father.” I drew back, looking up at him from under my lashes.
“So, you can stop trying to protect me, Kaden. I am perfectly capable of protecting myself.”
For several long seconds the prince said nothing, and the air seemed to crackle with tension. His chest rose and fell with uneven breaths, his shoulders tense as if he were physically restraining himself.
I wasn’t sure who moved first, only that my arms came around his neck at the precise moment Kaden crushed his mouth against mine.
His lips were hot and demanding and full of need, and when he locked an arm around my waist, I lost myself in the rightness of it all. I groaned against him, and he took advantage of my parted lips by slipping his tongue into my mouth.
Gods, I had missed this — missed him.
His free hand slid up to cup the side of my face, his hold gentle but firm.
Then his tongue began to move, stroking mine as he pressed his chest flush against me. The friction had my breasts peaking against the material of the shirt I wore, and I forgot all about my discarded dagger.
Kaden’s scent was all around me — charred cedar and leather and crisp mountain air. He pulled away to lave at my neck, and a surge of liquid heat erupted in my core.
Pushing me down onto the mattress, Kaden trailed kisses down to my collarbones, his soft lips a delicious contrast to the rough scrape of his stubble. I tore my fingers through his hair, guiding him down to where I wanted him.
His rough chuckle rumbled through me, and he smiled against my skin. “Impatient little huntress.”
I growled and wrapped my legs around him, savoring the heat of his body against my aching center. He groaned in response and slid a hand beneath my shirt as his other gripped my ass.
His hand left a scorching trail as it skimmed up my ribs to the underside of my breast. I arched into his touch, but his hand swiftly changed course, denying me what I craved.
Then he pulled my hips flush against him, and I gasped as I felt his hard length straining against his trousers.
A feral growl rumbled up my throat. “Kaden, I need —”
“I know what you need, little huntress,” he purred, skimming his nose down the side of my neck as he continued to make those infuriating circles over my ribs. “But we have company.”
Distantly, I remembered that Adriel and Sorsha were right downstairs. The safe house was incredibly small, and with their enhanced hearing . . .
“Just give me a moment,” Kaden murmured, shoving himself off the pallet and disappearing through the opening in the floor.
“What are you —” I began as the realization dawned on me.
He wouldn’t.
I was on my feet a heartbeat later, but I’d barely managed to haul myself down the ladder when I heard him bark, “Out!”
Grimacing, I couldn’t bring myself to look over the railing at Adriel and Sorsha seated at the small wooden table. My cheeks flamed as chairs scraped the floor, and Sorsha gave a knowing chuckle.
The front door slammed, and I turned to face Kaden — all traces of embarrassment evaporating at once.
His gaze was molten as he stalked toward me, and I fought a shiver at the predatory intent swirling in his silver-gray eyes. His magical tattoo undulated on his chest, and my mouth went dry as I drank him in.
His upper arms and shoulders were all taut cords of muscle, and his abdominals rippled as he stopped on the topmost step.
He was power incarnate, and my own body hummed in response as my gaze dropped to the bulge in his pants.
“Like what you see, little huntress?”
An embarrassing whimper slipped out of me, and my heart skittered with the urge to be nearer.
As if sensing my need, he took another step, and I stumbled backward into the ladder. I couldn’t look away. He was devastatingly beautiful with his dark hair in disarray and his full lips swollen from our kiss.
Crowding me against the rungs, Kaden gripped the ladder rails, effectively caging me in. My skin tingled as he looked me over, taking in my disheveled clothes and my peaked nipples.
He leaned in, and I shivered as his nose brushed against the edge of my jaw. “It’s been too long,” he rumbled, his hot breath tickling my skin. “And gods, have I missed you.”
I made a soft sound of agreement, groping for the top button of his trousers, but Kaden reached down and captured my wrist.
“Not yet,” he murmured, though his voice sounded strained. “I need to taste you first.”
And then his mouth clamped around my breast, sucking on my nipple through the thin fabric.
I cried out at the sensation of delicious wet heat and the light pinch of his teeth. With his free hand, he squeezed my other breast — hard enough that my cry turned into a moan and my spine arched back.
Releasing his hold on me, Kaden’s hands found the part in my shirt and ripped it open with a snarl. Buttons flew everywhere, pinging over the landing as his tongue lashed out to taste my bare skin.
I shrieked as his stubble scraped against the sensitive flesh, a stark contrast to the softness of his mouth.
My hands roved over the swells of his shoulders, down his arms and torso. His skin was like velvet over the hard ridges of muscle, which shifted and bunched beneath my touch.
Dropping to one knee, Kaden looked up at me through disheveled dark locks, a clear question in his gaze. His injured wings were spread behind him, a dark backdrop to his smoldering eyes.
The sight of such a powerful male kneeling before me made my core throb with desire, but then he reached behind him into the waistband of his trousers and produced my witchwood blade.
“I haven’t even gotten your clothes off, and already you drop your guard?”
His voice was rough, like two stones scraping together, and the raw male need in his gaze was undeniable.
I swallowed, searching his eyes for any trace of the demon king, but all I saw was Kaden.
Slowly, carefully, he reached up and took my hand, fitting my fingers around the hilt.
I gripped the dagger tightly, heart in my throat, as he hooked his fingers in my waistband and tugged my pants down.
I shivered as cool air kissed my bare flesh, and a slight flush crept up my neck at my sudden exposure.
Kaden’s gaze turned ravenous as he took me in, but his movements were slow and measured as he peeled my trousers down my legs and helped me step out of them.
“Fuck, you’re perfect,” he groaned as his hand slid up my thigh.
My breath hitched as he skimmed his thumb down my center, dragging it through the wetness between my legs.
“Kaden,” I gritted, squeezing my eyes shut as my whole body shook.
A low chuckle rumbled through him, and I opened them again to watch with breathless fascination as he grasped the underside of my knee and hooked a leg over his shoulder.
The movement threw me slightly off-balance, but I braced myself against the ladder.
“So wet for me,” Kaden mused, his voice soft as he brushed his thumb over that sensitive bundle of nerves.
A low whimper escaped my lips, and I gripped the rails of the ladder for dear life as he dragged his fingers over me again and slipped one into my channel.
My whole body clenched at the sensation, and he sucked in a hiss between his teeth.
“Fuck,” he gritted, biting down on his lower lip as he slowly slid his finger out.
“Kaden,” I whispered, my eyes rolling back in my head as he circled that sensitive spot. “Please.”
As if in response, he dipped his head forward, and my whole body seized as his mouth came down on me.
I shuddered at the roughness of his stubble as he parted me with his tongue, thrusting it into my wet heat. Waves of warmth and need crashed through me, almost painful, as Kaden feasted.
Gripping my thighs, he forced my knees apart, thrusting into me deeper. Each lash of his tongue was a claiming. A promise that I was his.
Then his fingers replaced his tongue, and Kaden kissed a trail between my thighs to circle that sensitive bundle of nerves.
Hot, pulsing pleasure coiled low in my belly, the tension almost unbearable. I let go of the ladder to fist his hair, dragging his face to where I needed him as he continued to fill me with his fingers.
That delicious friction sent me over the edge, the roiling storm of sensation breaking at last. Pleasure pulsed through my body with a violent intensity, my muscles going loose and then taut as my release crashed over me.
As I loosened my grip on his hair, Kaden pulled back to look at me. His lips were slick with my arousal, and there was a feral gleam in his eyes that made a fresh surge of heat bloom in my core.
Pulling him to his feet, I tugged him closer until his thigh was wedged between my legs. The pulsing warmth of his erection against my center was almost more than I could stand. But when I reached out and skimmed a finger along the unmarred edge of his wing, Kaden shivered and drew back.
Disappointment swamped me as he pressed a tender kiss to my forehead, my insides a tangle of frustration and need.
“Kaden,” I whispered. “I need you.”
A crushing sadness filled his gaze, and he let out a shaky breath. “You have no idea how badly I want you, little huntress, but I will not fuck you. Not now. Not when . . .”
He trailed off, his words like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head.
His jaw clenched as his eyes roved over my naked body, lingering on my hardened nipples and the wetness between my legs. His raw hunger pulsed down our bond, stirring something wild within me.
I wanted to scream and thrash and break things, but I forced myself to nod.
“The next time I am inside you, I want to be sure it is only me in my head.” A shudder went through him as he looked me over, his eyes blazing with an intensity that set my whole body aflame. “You are my mate, Lyra,” he growled. “No one gets to have you but me.”